Hi
I need to re-formated my WD 1TB external hard drive and was wondering what is the best file format to use (MS DOS FAT-32, Mac OS Extended Journalled etc)
All I store on it are all my videos, tv shows, and back-ups of all my work, documents etc, but I don't use it with time machine
Is one format better than the other for my needs?
Thanks
Andy
If you only use the external with a mac, then use Mac OS Extended Journalled. If you need a PC to be able to use it as well as a mac, then you can use MS-DOS, but there will be a 4GB file limitation with MS-DOS (FAT32).
If you're not sharing it with a PC the format you want is Mac OS Extended (Journaled)
Furthermore, if you do use MS-DOS, there is a noticable slow down when transferring data from the Mac.
I agree with the earlier posters, but there is an article at the url below that covers all the main points.
Just click here to get to it or copy and paste the link below.
http://externaldisk.co.uk/article/2012/05/14/format-my-drive-for-mac-and-windows .html
Ok question then. How can I transfer something off of the drive that is over 4GB?? I am trying to trasnfer an HD movie so I can reformat the drive, without losing the movie?
Frankless24 wrote:
How can I transfer something off of the drive that is over 4GB??
You don't transfer the file to a FAT(32) aka "MSDOS" formatted drive, partition or USB thumb drive.
The file is already on a drive that is formatted either exFAT, NTFS or HFS+ as it's over 4GB already or it wouldn't be there in the first place.
Best format for an external hard disk
